Slashdot Mirror
Of Late, Fewer Sunspots Than Usual
esocid writes "The sun has been laying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots and giving a break to satellites. Periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, but this period has gone on longer than usual. The sun usually operates on an 11-year cycle with maximum activity occurring in the middle of the cycle. The last cycle reached its peak in 2001 and is believed to be just ending now, with the next cycle just beginning and expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. Today's sun, however, is as inactive as it was two years ago, and scientists aren't sure why. In the past, solar physicists observed that the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots, coinciding with a little ice age on Earth that lasted from 1650 to 1700." (More below.)
esocid continues: "The Hinode, a Japanese satellite mission with the US and UK as partners, has three telescopes that together show how changes on the sun's surface spread through the solar atmosphere. It orbits 431 miles (694 km) above the Earth, crossing both poles and making one lap every 95 minutes, giving Hinode an uninterrupted view of the sun for several months out of the year. Scientists are not extremely worried, but have added extra ground stations in case of interference from extra solar activity, and are ready for the Sun to resume its activity." (The Little Ice Age is fascinating, full stop.)
How the little ice age (obviously a Liberal Conspiracy) is being used as a cover up for the fact that the evidence for Global Warming (another Liberal Conspiracy) is not as strong as it should be. They will even have tapes of Hillary Clinton secretly meeting with representatives of the sun, and possibly be able to tie the whole thing together with the sunspots being stolen by terrorists who are planning an attack using solar flares on the Olympics in Beijing as the beginning of a new Jihad.
Like arts? Like cheesy little Indie mags? Check out www.artwerkmag.com, and don't laugh at the bad coding please.
The sickest thing is that they'll just keep shouting their "rebuttals". And most disturbing of all, apparently the mods are falling for it, upmodding the deniers and modding down those who try to refute them. It's really depressing... *sigh*
Yep, but moderation goes in cycles here. The asshats have the upper hand for now, but meta-moderation will fix that before long.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton